Low end gaming system

[RickMorgan]

Hi Guys
A friend requires a low end gaming system with Win7.
Would the following suffice please?

Case
PCS ALPHA TRION 7622B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD FX-4300 Quad Core CPU (3.80GHz/4MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A97 R2.0 (DDR3, USB3.0, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1050 Ti - DVI, HDMI, DP
1st Hard Disk
500GB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 16MB CACHE
2nd Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W VS SERIES™ VS-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Monitor
IIYAMA X2481HS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, D-Sub, DVI-D, HDMI 1920x1080
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® K120 USB KEYBOARD
Mouse
LOGITECH® OPTICAL USB MOUSE
Speakers
Creative A250 2.1 Speakers with Subwoofer
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price £872.00 including VAT and delivery

 

[Oussebon]

If you're happy installing Windows 7 for him, I'd suggest something like this instead:

Case
GAME MAX FALCON BLACK GAMING CASE (RGB LED)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core G4560 (3.50GHz, 3MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® H110M-R: Micro-ATX, DDR4, LG1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
4GB AMD RADEON™ RX 470 - HDMI, DP, DVI - DX® 12
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
2TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Monitor
IIYAMA GE2488HS-B2 24" Gaming Monitor
Keyboard & Mouse
PCS S300 USB MEDIA KEYBOARD
Speakers
Creative A250 2.1 Speakers with Subwoofer
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price £739.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-home-office-pc/sHaX!ss5JC/

While there was the thing about Win 7 support not being available for Skylake and Kaby Lake, Windows 7 manifestly works for the H110M-R since Asus are offering various drivers for it and have a Win 7 setup guide. The Pentium also works with Win 7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDR5qiwDrV0

The reason is that the FX series is horrendously dated. It significantly underperforms modern Intel (and modern AMD) systems for gaming, and has no good upgrade options.



The G4560 is a better performing in gaming and could be upgraded to the i7 7700, possibly even Cannonlake.

I'd also suggest the RX 470 as it's vastly more powerful than the 1050 ti for not a great deal more cash.



Other tweaks suggested are:
- a case with better cooling, more features, more upgrade room, etc
- a single 2TB HDD, which is cheaper, larger, and faster than a 1TB HDD + 500gb HDD.
- you don't need a 650W PSU. 450W should be more than fine even for future powerful GPUs and CPUs.
- a smaller and quieter CPU cooler

The monitor I put in as a suggestion because it has Freesync, which pairs nicely with an AMD GPU. Also if it's for gaming, a VA panel such as in that iiyama might be a bit less than ideal. It's possible to get a bit too hung up on refresh rates, but it's slower than even budget IPS panels so alternatives might be worth at least considering. Plus, freesync.

 

[RickMorgan]

Thanks for your suggestions.
However, my friend (Chris) has done some reading up on AMD,Intel and Win7 and is adamant that an AMD processor be in the build.
I note that PCS don't supply your suggested spec. assembled with Win7 Pro.
I must admit that I am now approaching slighly muddied water so I'd appreciate your recommend re. AMD reasonably fast processor which will out peform the FX series and still be compatible with Win7.
Many thanks
Rick

 

[Oussebon]

so I'd appreciate your recommend re. AMD reasonably fast processor which will out perform the FX series and still be compatible with Win7.

There are none.

The only AMD CPUs that are worth buying at the moment are AMD's Ryzen lineup, which are in a similar position with Windows 7 as Skylake/Kaby Lake (thus PCS don't sell Ryzen PCs with Win 7), and are currently more far more expensive than the above because it's a new lineup and the cheapest ones haven't been released. The only other AMD CPUs are even weaker than the FX series.

My message to your friend would be that, in all candour, he should either ditch his expectation of Windows 7, or ditch his expectation of an AMD CPU, or possibly both.

Windows 7 will also stop receiving updates in January *2020 - so no security fixes, etc. Win 7 also lacks DX12. Unless your friend only wants to keep the PC for less than 3 years, buying Windows 7 as the main OS is a roundly bad idea. He's either going to end up with an OS where new vulnerabilities aren't patched, or end up buying Windows 10 later anyway.

He can buy what you posted originally of course, but it's a truly awful idea and I can't encourage anyone to waste their money like that. That's not a criticism of you or your spec, that's purely directed at buying tech 5 years out of date and performs poorly for reasons which are very debatable at best - i.e. not only going with an OS that's soon to lose support but also ignoring viable options to run that OS on modern hardware if they really want to.

If your friend is utterly adamant that it has to be Win 7, and that it can't be a spec like the above, then they should shop around to see if anyone's still selling Haswell/Devil's Canon Intel builds. That's tech that's a few years out of date too but at least it's better in gaming than the FX series and therefore isn't quite as a tragic a waste of money. Though that won't extend MS's support for Win 7 any further of course...

 

[RickMorgan]

Thank you Oussebon for all your info. Much appreciated.

Rick